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Archive for December, 2007

So many THOUGHTS passed through my mind this morning as I watched “The Lady Bhutto” being brought to her ‘Ancestral Home’ for the Last Time. The throngs of HUMANITY who followed the casket (oh, my), as if somehow they wished to follow her into Eternity ~ that, or else a Desire to ‘hang on’ to her for as long as they could was simply awesome in scope and power!

“The Great Ones“, and their untimely Deaths, have this effect on those that are left behind. And then the question ALWAYS arises: “WHY did they risk it?” or “WHY did they go where even angels dare not tread?”

And I guess the ONLY answer we have is …. “Because these ‘Great Lights‘ fully Understood that there are things GREATER then Ourselves!”

And if we look back at those considered ‘GREAT’, we’ll note that many of these ‘Beautiful Ones’ championed “The Least of These“. Gandhi, King, Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, Jesus ~ yes, Jesus ~ Che Guevara and others within recent Memory ‘ALL’ risked and GAVE THEIR LIVESChampioning the Plight of the Poor and Disenfranchised.

Every last one.

And now TODAY, Bhutto has joined that Pantheon of mortal gods that had the Strength, Courage, and Conviction to ride their Fate to the bitter End.

When we see a tombstone we note the person’s date of birth and death. And has been stated: “But nobody will REMEMBER the date of a person’s birth or death ….. but what was done during the ‘DASH‘ between the dates on the tombstone is what counts!”

To ME, this is one of the ‘Great Lessons’ the Greater Lights leave behind for all of us survivors. That, and the Importance to Champion (and be mindful of) the Plight of the Poor and Disadvantaged. For what we do with that ‘DASH‘ that will one day be borne on our tombs …. is perhaps what LIFE is all about.

“For now I’ve seen you, oh Builder; and no longer will you build my House. For I have snapped the rafters and split the ridgepoles …. and now my mind is free!”

Beginning with Christmas, two News Stories have been very upsetting to my Soul: on Christmas a Tiger escaped from the San Francisco Zoo ~ killing one person and injuring two others; and now today, the assassination of Bhutto.

The Tiger escape struck me quite hard because on Monday I had PLANNED on visiting the S.F. Zoo on Wednesday …. just a day after the tragic incident! It could have just as easily been ME that got attacked had the Tiger escaped just ONE DAY LATER, as I ALWAYS spend a LOT of TIME visiting and Observing the “Big Cats”!

But what a Tragedy! To kill a Beautiful ( and rare) Siberian Tiger for just doing what Tigers do; as well as the Death and Injury to three people in such a manner ….. God Have Mercy on us all.

And then you have the tragedy in Pakistan. First of all, how Courageous was Bhutto to WILLINGLY step back into a country where KNOWINGLY she was at extreme Risk!

Damn near ‘Gandhi-like”!

Damn near Martin Luther King-like!

It has ALWAYS struck me as “Other Worldly” when an Individual chooses to leave the ‘Safe & Comfortable’ and instead goes into territory reeking with Danger & Risk. And how, and on what Strength, these preciously few Individual Souls draw upon their Inner Power to fulfill their Destiny is too remarkable for my mind to wrap around. But “Thank God” Humanity has these few ‘PreciousLights‘ to inspire us all. Unlike this SHAMEFUL LOT of U.S. Politicians who TODAY are USING this tragedy as a prop to boost their political campaigns. Listen to them and see how very little in the way of condolence or heart felt grief over the loss of a Human Being you get from these people. I hear these slimy politicians tout nothing but “I told you that we’re at war against Islamo Fascists!”

At TIMES like these, I can only recall a Buddhist saying (above) that as I get older becomes TRUER than anything my ears and heart have registered since birth. For from Childhood, we are presented with a ‘Builder‘ that Promises to build for us untold Wealth, Popularity, Companionship, Security, Friends, Love etc. if only we just Believe in him (the Builder) and his Plan. And so we set out in Life to do all those ‘things’ that the ‘Builder‘ has asked of us …. only to later find out that “The Builder” had lied to us. For regardless our wealth, it’s NEVER enough;

for despite our Best Efforts, we often find our friends abandoning us or we find ourselves ‘out of step’ with those we respect;

or illness lays low our best crafted Plans.

THIS IS WHY incidents like the Tiger Attack and the Assassination of Bhutto drive Home the point that …. “For now I’ve seen you, oh Builder; and no longer will you build my House. For I have snapped the rafters and split the ridgepoles …. and now my mind is free!”

“If not Obama: WHO?”

I Write What I Like

I’ve been zeroing inon the “Race ToThe White House“, especially since Obama has risen in the Polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

What’s at stake is the Heart & Soulof our country as we enter the Twenty-first Century, isn’t it. And followingthe dismal and often disgraceful performance of the Demsthis past year ….can the Partyreally afford to Marry itself to ‘what used to be’?? Especially since the Dems have made it perfectly clear that there’s nearly a hair’s bit of difference between being a Democrat or Republican!

Not really.

I’m a BarackObama‘Fan‘. And I say this notbecauseof his skin color or the fact I Believe he’s theone person who could Elevate America to unheard of heights …. but because he’s a Statesman inthe Tradition of John F. Kennedy.

Barack, unlikeClinton, relies on the Hopes & Aspirations of the American People ~ourHigherAngels, while aswe cansee lately coming from “Camp Clinton” nothing but “Dirty Tricks” and pranks designed to appeal to our Lower Base Instincts of Fear and Anxieties ; damnnear patterned along the lines of Bush and his Merry Band of Henchmen is all we get lately from the Lady.

I think BarackObamais the “Ring Bearer“!And on his shoulders will rest theFate of all “Freedom LovingPeople” inhabiting this …. the ‘Fifth Age’ of Middle Earth.

Experience? We’ve had so-called EXPERIENCE in Washington these pastl–o–n–g 8 YEARS and look what itsgotten us! Hell, any further EXPERIENCE would have gotten us Armageddon!!

Leadership? Well, to WIN a Seatinthe U.S. Senateand then Runfor President shortly thereafter tells me Obama is no shrinking violet and has the ego for the Job.

The only Wild Card separatingBarack from the White House is the color of his skin …. and how Whites, in theprivacy of theVoting Booth, will VOTE their Convictions rather than their Prejudices.

To befrank: Can America OVERCOME centuries of bigotry and VOTE their Conscious instead of their Fears. Polls have shown that Hillary amongDemocrats has an extremely HIGH ‘Negative Rating‘. Knowing this,are Democrats willing to Select aperson that willno doubt POLARIZEthe National Electorate and perhaps pave the way for a “NUT” like a Mike Huckabee or a Rude Rudy to sit their ass in the Oval Office??

Are our Prejudices worth seeing the continuation of the George W. Bush Agenda long afterGrimaWormtonguehas left Office?

Hell! We’ve seenJohn Edward’s shtick, haven‘t we.A multi-MILLION dollar Lawyer (that receives $200 haircuts), whois little more thana“Poverty Pimp“! Yeah, I said it, because I’ve seen far too many of these ‘Snake OilSalesmen‘ exploit the suffering of the Poor simply to advance their own Selfish Agendas!

Barack KNOWS the World, folks! He’s well schooled in the ‘Game of Life’. Give me a Man …. that has the Knowledge and Background to KNOW the difference between the TRUE religion of Islam from that pimped by bin Laden.

Give me a Man …. who KNOWS the limits of Military Power, and will use same only as a ‘LAST RESORT’.

Give me a Man …. who sees the United States not as Red States or Blue States: but simply as America.

Give me a Man … who when travels across the Globe, will be applauded by HUGE throngs of Humanity because he will truly Represent the BEST & BRIGHTEST of the American Ideal.

Youssif is able to smile again. He will still undergo more surgeries to correct his lower lip and tweak other scars.

I Write What I Like

I saw the above photo of a terribly scared Iraqi boy and immediately was reminded how as a child myself …. I would play “WAR” with my childhood ‘Buds’. Oh, I recall vividly how we would divide ourselves up between Germans v Americans (I always wanted to be ‘Germans‘ <g>) and go to the woods to shoot and capture each other WITHOUT actually understanding what ‘Real War’ was all about.

As a child I never knew the side I liked (Germans) embraced Racist Policies and were responsible for the genocide and extermination of millions of Jews. Just as the kids that chose the ‘American Side’ never understood that Americans established Concentration Camps IN AMERICA for Americans of Japanese Ancestry or had the audacity to drop an atomic bomb on millions.

Just as none of us kids KNEW or UNDERSTOOD that many Black Americans returning from the war were LYNCHED while still in Uniform!!

We were just KIDS!!

In due course, however, we Learned what often fueled these WARS that we as kids found so delightful to play. Ideas such as Racial Superiority or Greed or National Hubris …. which eventually led us, as kids, to no longer desire to simply PLAY WAR but instead to Learn about the REAL WORLD and how it ‘thought’ and ‘acted’.

The horrors of war.

The horrors of war was what ‘cooled my heels’ to weening myself away from this perverse ‘Love Affair‘ I had as a child with Death, Destruction, andWar Mongering. The ‘look’ in the eyes of Jews huddled in theirbunks in German Concentration Camps; the ‘look’ in the eyes of War Refugees as they fled from their war torn homes seeking safety from war; the broken and mangled bodies of warriors and equipment spewed across a desert or forest; and of course the “Children of War” …. now parentless, themselves scared, and would grow to Adulthood with haunting Memories that would remain until the day they would meet their ‘Maker’.

Today, we ‘talk’ about WAR as if we were STILL children ‘Playing atWar‘. We pontificate about going to WAR as if the horrors of war were mere ‘collateral damage’ that should be EXPECTED as little more than a ‘Convenient Discomfort’. Just as we now look upon TORTURE as something as a ‘Normal Inconvenience’ in our so-called ‘War Against Terror’. And we now do ~and THINK ~ these things because like Children …. we have forgotten that the ‘Horrors of War’ knows no boundaries or exceptions; but more importantly:

WAR breeds a contempt for LIFE and Morality!!

How can ANY Human Being ~ including Politicians ~ attend a Church on Sunday and then on Monday bear in his (her) heart a desire to ‘Take Out’ another nation under the guise of “We must be willing to defend the United States!” or “We must not allow Iran to build nuclear weapons!” KNOWING that once the bombs fall our nation will be at greater Risk, and the ‘Horrors of War’ will eventually ‘Come Home To Roost’ in one way or the other! Be it a further reduction in our Civil & Constitutional Liberties, or a further reduction in our sense of what’s Right & Moral.

Look how TODAY we parse what constitutes TORTURE!!

Look at the ‘Face of War’ (above photo) and remember it the next time you ‘feel’ the impulse to want to ‘Go To War’, okay.

Look at the ‘Face of War’ (above photo) and remember it the next time you hear a politician pontificate how WE MUST ‘take out’ so-and-so Dictator or Rogue Regime, okay!

Unless, that is, you desire the above photo to be the FACE of the Twenty-first Century.

“The Mitchell Report”

Page after page, Roger Clemens’ name was all over the Mitchell Report.

Count them, 82 times.

Barry Bonds showed up more often. So did Jose Canseco. Andy Pettitte, Eric Gagne and Miguel Tejada also became part of baseball’s most infamous lineup since the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

But they didn’t get the worst of it Thursday. That infamy belonged to Clemens, the greatest pitcher of his era.

The Steroids Era.

“Those who have illegally used these substances range from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame,” former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell wrote in his much-anticipated report on performance-enhancing drugs.

“They include both pitchers and position players, and their backgrounds are as diverse as those of all major league players.”

Seven MVPs, two Cy Young Award winners and 31 All-Stars — one for every position. In all, the 409-page report identified 85 names to differing degrees, putting question marks if not asterisks in the record book and threatening the integrity of the game itself.

“If there are problems, I wanted them revealed,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “His report is a call to action, and I will act.”

On Friday, Mitchell insisted he provided opportunities for the playersidentified in his report to respond to the allegations.

Almost without exception, he said on CNN’s “American Morning,” they declined. So Mitchell turned to union head Donald Fehr.

“I wrote a letter to Don Fehr‘s office setting forth the names and the dates and I wanted to tell them, here is what happened, come in and explain it to me,” Mitchell said. “They refused to do so.”

While he vehemently denied it through his lawyer, Clemens was the symbol.

Considered a lock for the Hall of Fame earlier this week, Clemens’ path to Cooperstown was thrown in doubt after he was singled out on nearly nine pages.

Seven-time Cy Young Award winner, eighth on the career list with 354 victories, an MVP and All-Star himself, Clemens suddenly had more to worry about than simply whether to play next season.

“It is very unfair to include Roger’s name in this report,” said Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin. “He is left with no meaningful way to combat whathe strongly contends are totally false allegations. He has not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong.”

Much of the information about Clemens came from former New York Yankeesmajor league strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee.

According to the report, McNamee also told investigators that “during the middle of the 2000 season, Clemens made it clear that he was ready to use steroids again. During the latter part of the regular season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone from a bottle labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca–Durabolin.”

The report was unlikely to triggera wave of discipline. While a few players, such as Bonds, are subjects of ongoing legal proceedings, many of the instances cited by Mitchell were before drug testing began in 2003.

******

YESTERDAY, the Media was wall-to-wall in its Coverage of the release of the “Mitchell Report“. And as expected, the Media did a ‘Barry Bonds Job’ on the 80 or so ballplayers whose Names appeared in the Report. In other words ~ the Media found those Names in the Report to be ‘GUILTY, as MENTIONED‘. And I say ‘mentioned’ because these 80 Names were secured by Mitchell from frickin‘ Trainers (2) and/or the DISCUSSIONS held with one ~ 1 ~ athlete: Jason Giambi!!

And mind you, Mitchell failed to disclose ANY current or active members of the Boston Red Sox because ….. Mitchell sits on the Board of Directors of the Red Sox!!

What ever happened to the Principle of “DueProcess“?

See. As I stated way back during the ‘OJ Simpson Trial’ (the REAL TRIAL): “The country will rue the day …. when it ACCEPTS the shoddy and lazy work product of the MEDIA; just as America will regret the allowance of bigotry and prejudice to serve as its Judge & Jury!”

And why do I say that? Well, since Simpson we’ve seen how the MEDIA has FUELED the paranoia and recklessbehavior of a President (Bush) to sway America into a devastating WAR in Iraq, haven’t we. America has allowed a lazy and sloppy MEDIA to PROJECT onto ordinary Citizens their ~ the Media ~xenophobic concepts of what Immigration is supposed to be like. Hell, the Media even TODAY is pimping that NUT, Huckabee, into a LEADING position of the Republican Party. But it goes farther than this. Americans have allowed the Media to strip away our Constitutional Rights; our sense of what’s Right & Wrong (like TORTURE); as well as declare ‘Null & Void” this nation’s most cherished Principle of “Due Process“.

TODAY we don’t allow a Jury to Determine culpability …. but ‘Head Cases’ like Bill O’Reilly, Nancy Grace, Rush Limbaugh or Shaun Hannity! Now with the ‘Mitchell Report’, the boys at ESPN (and other TALKING HEADS on ‘Sports Talk Radio’) with impunity trample and ruin men’s LIVES and REPUTATIONS based simply on ‘hearsay‘ and flimsy information proffered by kats (trainers) who ‘rat out’ peoplesimply to save their own skin!

Keep in mind, that this entire STEROID mess was originally spawned off a ‘MONEY LAUNDERING‘ charge against BALCO!!

MONEY that the GOVERNMENT was ‘pissed off’ about because quite frankly:

they didn’t get their ‘cut’ of!!

Listen to the Media, and see if they don’t report these ALLEGATIONS found in the Mitchell Report …. as the Gospel!

Oh, it was easy to LYNCH a Barry Bonds because he was Black and didn’t kiss Sport Writers’ ass; but NOW one can see that just as easily can a Media WITCH HUNT turn ANY PERSON’s LIFE upside down. Even White Folk!!

Ask Roger Clemens!!

This is why the OJ Simpson Trial and the way it was covered so upset me; because I KNEW what would trail in the wake of that Media Carnage. And while at the TIME I could not have foreseen a ‘911’ or a George Bush …. STILL the seeds of a weakening of our Constitutional Rights were at High Risk!

This isn’t a ‘Black & White’ thing, but a Freedom Issue! And thatis why ALL AMERICANS must place themselves in the shoes of “the LEAST of these” whenever we see an Injustice to ANYBODY or any Citizen. For ultimately the Bell tolls for thee!

And while Major League Baseball Players are far from the ‘Least of These’, still they have been DENIED “Due Process” and now face a life of Censor, Shame, and even loss of Reputation!! And I submit that it all goes back to the ‘Bad Days’ of the OJ Simpson Trial. The REAL Trial.

For once a ‘Right‘ is lost or weakened …. it is damn near impossible to place the genie back into the bottle.

I don’t KNOW OJ Simpson, no more then I KNOW a Roger Clemens. Hell, Baseball lost me when they ‘Blew Off’ the World Series back in 1994! But whenever I see INJUSTICE to ANYBODY ~ even multi-million dollar Professional Baseball Players ~I recoil because I KNOW it will ultimately effect ME as an American Citizen.

“Jonestown Revisited”

* My photo of the Mass Gravesite of over 400 Human Beings that perished in Guyana and “Jonestown”

I had read the other day where next year a Monument would be erected at the Mass Grave Site (above photo) in Memory of those from the Bay Area who had lost their LIVES in Guyana at “Jones Town“. More then 400 Souls from the San Francisco Bay Area were MASS MURDERED that day, and each year since their families and friends come to THIS SPOT to Observe and Remember.

Today, Oakland’s Evergreen Cemetery is theEternal Resting Place for a MASS GRAVE where 400 now RIP. I first visited the Mass Grave back in 1980, I believe it was. And I can recall vividly how I had just accidentally stumbled on it! See …. I LOVE visiting Cemeteries <g>, and Evergreen is an awfully pretty one besides, it was close to home.

Let me tell you what happened to me TODAY as I took my little ‘Digital Eye’ to photograph the Mass Grave, okay! : )

Cemeteries are awfully hard to recall where a particular grave site is located, particularly if you hadn’t visited a particular spot in quite a long time. TODAY as I drove to a location where I THOUGHT I had remembered the Jonestown Mass Grave Site to be ~ remember I had not visited the Mass Grave in well over 10 years ~ I got out the car and walked to a general location and found nothing in the way of a ‘Mass Grave’ that I was searching for or had remembered.

After getting discouraged I walk back to my car where I spot a woman placing flowers on a nearby grave. I stopped and asked her:

“Would you know where the Jonestown Mass Grave is located?”

Well. After listening to about 10 different stories about her dead brother, sister, children and such <g>, she FINALLY (Bless her heart <g>) tells me to go back out the gate I came in and re-enter the cemetery at another gate located on the opposite side. I thank her and go my way.

I re-enter a Gate where I was told <g> and decide to walk into the Cemetery Office for a Map and more definitive Directions. And what a gloomy place that Office was, Folks. : )

I’d rather had been in a grave myself than that frickin’ Dooms Day Cemetery Office! : )

So …. I get the map and follow damn near the route I had first THOUGHT the ‘Jonestown’ graves were located! I get out the car and walk …. and walk …. and walk until I stop a kat mowing the lawn and ask him:

“Could you please tell me where the Jonestown Mass Grave is located?”

In broken English (he was one of those Mexican Illegal Immigrants you folks are so upset about <g>), he points to the general direction I should go. And damn wasn’t the Mass Grave Site located just 20 feet on a ridge above where I first looked! : )

And its a very haunting spot, folks! HUNDREDS of Lost Souls seem to be STILL moaning and being tormented after what happened to them THAT DAY 29 YEARS ago!!

That tombstone you see above is carved with the innocent BLOOD, HOPES, FEARS, and DREAMS of HUNDREDS of Human Beings that followed a Mad Man ~ Jim Jones ~ to their deaths.

I can’t begin to say who will WIN in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina EARLY next year; but I can say that whoever does win those early Primary Elections …. will WIN the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States thanks to “Big Mo”.

Here’s my 2 cents worth:

During my lifetime there have been but 2 Presidents that I truly Admired and would have loved to shake hands with: John Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Kennedy because he was a superbly Eloquent Statesman, and LBJ because he COULD HAVE used the war (Vietnam) as an EXCUSE to delay Signing Civil Rights Legislation …. but he didn’t. And while both men were consummate POLITICIANS, neither were unwilling to risk their Presidency on doing what was Right & Moral.

Hell. Even Honest Abe said: “If I could SAVE the Union without freeing 1 Slave … I would do it.”

I’m not naive enough to believe that Americans are sophisticated enough to overcome their prejudices and bigotry to Elect a Black Man for President. After all, I can recall how many, many whites SAID they could VOTE for a Black Man prior to the Wisconsin Primary where Jesse Jackson was Leading …. only to VOTE differently in the privacy of the Voting Booth! So I’ve seen how whites can say one thing to Pollsters, yet VOTE completely differently on Election Day.

That’s REALITY.

But I’ll tell ya what: the stakes facing Americans during THIS ELECTION could never be greater or more pressing. And despite our Prejudices, Racist Inclinations, Fears of the Unknown, or any other phobias …. I just can’t believe that a Hillary or Edwards or Huckabee (brother <g>) or a Rude Rudy or Fred “I’m Bored” Thompson or a wishy-washy Mitt Romney can refocus the nation’s Priorities sufficient to meet the problems of the Twenty-first Century as well as:

BarackObama!

Save Obama, all the other potential Candidates are of the Past; a Past where America could throw her weight around and DEMAND the World to do her bidding. A World where American Leadership and Might was unquestioned and had to play by American Rules.

That’s a World of the Past!

Today, and as we’ve seen, just 19 men CAN damn near bring our country to its knees. And not only that: as we’ve also seen ….. our Constitutional Rights & Liberties can be quickly diminished in a heart beat! So TODAY the old so-called Standards in determining the qualifications for President SHOULD BE BASED on whom BEST has a grasp of the World as it NOW is constituted, and whom BEST can break away from the OLD way of doing business.

Is Obama the perfect Candidate: Of course not ~ he’s a man subject to flaws as all Men are. But he’s the one Man that I Believe has the Background, Wisdom, Statesmanship, and Courage to meet the Challenges & Demands of the New Century. And don’t forget folks: we live in a nonwhite WORLD that will be more than ‘Open’ to a President of the United States that possibly has some RELATEDNESS and deeper Understanding (sympatico) with the rest of the World!

Bill Clinton was President in a different World. And I don’t feel like WASTING the next 4 YEARS resurrecting the ‘Clinton Presidency’ …. or reliving the Nightmare YEARS of George Bush!!

“The Hobbit”

NEW YORK – Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R.Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.”

Jackson, who directed the “Rings” trilogy, will serve as executive producer for “The Hobbit.” A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after “Rings,” despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion — an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting “The Hobbit” 50/50, spokemen for both studios said Tuesday.

“I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line,” Jackson said in a statement. “We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth.”

Two “Hobbit” films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three “Lord of the Rings” films were made. Production is set to begin in 2009 with a released planned for 2010, with the sequel scheduled for a 2011 release.

New Line Cinema is owned by Time Warner. Sony and Comcast are among the owners of MGM.

****

For all the Legions of Fans of “Middle Earth“, this Statement from Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema is wonderful news! However, after seeing how New Line Cinema butchered “The Golden Compass” …. my excitement is tempered and I’ll await the Release of the two “The Hobbit” movies with temperance.

Too, Peter Jackson is only PRODUCING “The Hobbit” and NOT Directing it. This can be somewhat problematic in that the entire Tone, Character, and ‘Feel’ can dramatically CHANGE under different Directors. Look at “Harry Potter”: didn’t the ‘FEEL’ change under various Directors?

If “The Hobbit” mirrors the beauty of New Zealand (where “The Lord of the Rings” was filmed); if Jackson has not forgotten what made his ‘Rings’ so powerful and compelling: Cinematography Brilliance, Powerful Musical Score, attention to Character etc; and if New Line Cinema gets out of the way and allow Peter Jackson to ‘do his thing’ …. then I think, and HOPE, “The Hobbit” will be a HUGE success!